Power restored to nearly 200,000 homes affected by Saola: Taipower

Taipei, Aug. 2 (CNA) Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) has restored power to 196,019 of the 219,270 households left without power due to Typhoon Saola, the state-run company said Thursday.

Households in the central county of Nantou, northern county of Taoyuan, central city of Taichung and eastern county of Yilan have been affected the most by Saola, with 53,011, 32,031, 30,545, 20,191 homes experiencing disruptions to power supplies, respectively, as of Thursday 6:30 p.m., the state-run company said in a statement.

However, following efforts by over 1,600 engineers who worked in the torrential rain, the company has been able to restore power to around 90 percent of the affected households, Taipower said.

The remaining some 15,000 households are in areas where engineers cannot enter due to road closures, the company said, adding it hopes to restore power to as many of these homes as possible by the end of the day.

Saola was downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm in the afternoon as its second landfall in northeastern Taiwan has caused damage to its structure.

The storm has weakened after making a second landfall at Cape Santiago at 2:30 p.m., but its outer bands remain intact and may still bring extreme rainfall to Taiwan, according to forecasters.